Vacant Offerings
by Winslow Fisherman
Summary: A wandering Thunderian finds himself at The Tower of Omens. What happens when he comes and when he leaves will leave Lion-o and his crew filled with nightmares, questions, but above all wonderment, as to the sanity of this creature that showed up on a stormy night.


**Disclaimer: I do not own Thundercats. Everything else is fictional**

Vacant Offerings

I see a light burning in the night, its outside the Tower of Omens. A figure holds it but its hidden by a cloak, however, based on its claws and fur, I believe it to be-a Thunderian? I thought Mum-Ra did a good job to make sure none survived, he must've missed another besides us. I must alert the others…

 _Pat, pat, pat_ ; Lion-O runs down the steps, rounds the corner and stops, grabing The Tower of Omen's door. He swings it open, a figure wearing cloak, holding a lantern in the rain with powerful winds blowing stands before him.

"Welcome, I am…" the lord of the thunder cat stops when the cat holds up his lamp to his face. Lion-O sees a horrible slash across this Thunderian's face, only it seems to be a shape of some kind, a bizarre 3 dimensional cube. "Lion-O…"

"I know who you are…prince of the late lord who died by that mummy's hands," replies the animal. "Are you the only one here?"

"No, my friends live in this tower," replies the lord of the Thundercats. He moves aside and let's in the stray. "Come in, please."

The wanderer stops, wind slams the entrance behind him with a bang. He looks up to see Lion-O's crew staring down from a top the tower at him. "Your friends," he says and turns to look at the lord of the Thundercats. "An odd bunch, wouldn't you say?"

"Hey, there's more to us than meets the eye!" screams Wilykat.

The visitor chuckles. "Please, take it as a compliment and not an insult. Everyone looks to be a great warrior here, unlike myself," he says and looks at the cat. "I apologize, I'll go now."

"What? You're going just because we took something the wrong way?" replies Wilykit.

"In my days of life, it's not ok to offend, but then again, my days are over."

"What do you mean?"

"Do you have any food?"

Lion-O pats his Thunderian on the shoulder. "We shall make you a feast, or at least from what we got."

"No, you should not go to too much trouble."

"It's ok," says Tygra, "I think we'll have some left over."

"That's kind of…"

"What is your name Thunderian?"

"Vemo, I worked for the king as an architect, I built his palace for him…I miss his leadership, wisdom and warmth…"

Lion-O takes off ahead of the stray and stops to look back. "Follow me, let me fill his light," he says and sees a nervousness in his guest. "It's ok, you can trust me, or should I say will you give me a chance to be what he was, he was my father after all?"

"I shall."

 _Munch, munch, crunch, glug_ ; Vemo is digging into his meal. The thundercats watch their guest go mad, he burps upon his final bite. He sets his plate and cup to the side then smiles at how fitting his meal had been. He wipes his face with his cloak, stopping to see everyone is staring at him and chuckles at his poor outside behavior.

"I wasn't like this," the visitor says. "I did have better self-care management, but Mum-Ra's attack really shook up things. It destroyed me, or led me down a horrific path I despise."

"What do you mean," inquires Wilykit, "are you talking about the scar? Did he do that?"

"No, I did that to myself when I went out in search for help."

"Why did you hurt yourself?"

Vemo sighs and looks at his empty, food-bit, cluttered, plate. "I hadn't eaten such a good meal because of that cube."

"Can you share with us your story?" inquires Lion-O. "What happened to you? How did you escape Thundera, get the scar, end up here?"

The guest goes silent. "I woke up in the rubble. Seeing the corpses shook me. I took off, looking for your father, asking him what to do, but I found his…h-his corpse and lost my soul momentarily," he replies and picks up the plate. "I didn't know what to do. I had no family and if I did, they'd have been most likely dead."

"What did you do," inquires Wilykat, "where did you go?"

"I traveled, searching for help, a kingdom that could take me in, but none helped me out as much as Thundera…" the visitor trails off, picking up a knife he'd used to cut his meal up and examines it, laughing a bit. "You all have been more kind than any place."

"I've got a question," replies Lion-O. "What's this cube you mentioned earlier? How does it fit into everything?"

The examiner freeze's then sighs. "I have nothing to offer you for your kindness."

"Vemo, what's the cube?"

The guest lays his plate down, places his left hand on it and before anyone can stop him they watch as he stabs it repeatedly. Blood is pouring out, filling it up. The Thundercats watch Vemo's left hand grow a big cube shaped hole in the middle. The stabber's wheezing pauses all.

"H-hey!" Panthro screams after a minute. "W-what are you doing?"

"Cube! Cube! Cube!" screams the Thunderian. "May the gods curse that cube!"

"Lion-O! Do something!" screams Tygra. He watches Vemo's blood spill out, slowly traveling towards him and everyone else. "He's going to kill himself!"

The lord of the thunder cats grabs his visitor by the arm and stops him. "What's wrong with you," he inquires as he fights with the Thunderian pitifully, "what's wrong? Tell me, please, what happened to you? Is it the cube?"

"The cube is a curse! It'll kill me! Kill me!" screams the visitor. He breaks free, standing up and backs away slowly, this group of cats are now enemies to him. "You needn't worry because it'll destroy you too! You'll carve its mark onto your skin!"

"Come on, what's so scary about a cube?" replies Wilykit.

"It's not normal. There's no need to align, only fine and you shall be taken there."

"'There?' Where? What are you talking about?"

The visitor looks behind him back at the door to the outside. "I must go and destroy it before some other groups such as yourselves find it."

Before the group can say anything the Thunderian jumps, landing on his feet and races to his exit. He opens the door, and leaves, forgetting his lantern is in The Tower of Omens. The storm is still on, but by the morning it is over. However, the Thundercats move out, searching, only to find one trace of him at first, a cloak near a river.

"Vemo! Where are you?" Lion-O screams. He looks around, but he doesn't cave to wander to far. He finds lying in a clearing is the Thunderian's body. His face torn off and twisted into the shape of a 3-D cube. "D-did he do this? What kept him alive to be able to complete it?"


End file.
